WITH Boro braced for big back-to-back battles on a pivotal play-off weekend, boss Tony Mowbray has declared: “It’s all in our own hands now.”

Mowbray’s men face Cardiff tomorrow and Hull on Monday with both sides lurking immediately behind Boro and eager to overhaul them.

And the boss insists the Easter weekend offers a golden chance to not just beef up Boro’s play-off position but also take two dangerous rivals out of the end-of-season equation.

“This is a defining part of the football calendar,” he said. “With six games to go, the Easter weekend is important because you get two games so close to each other.

“This is an opportunity for us to open a gap on the teams behind us,” he said.

“It is very much in our hands now. These are two teams who right now are very much still in the play-off calculations.

“But if we do beat Cardiff, if we do beat Hull then suddenly you are looking backward at them down the table.

“If we beat them, then they may not be entirely out of it but they will have a lot of work to do to catch us.

“If we can win these two games then the equation for us becomes a lot simpler.

“Cardiff would need to win at least two more games than us to overhaul us and, as we’ve found, that is difficult to do in this league and games are running out fast.

“If you look beyond them, you see maybe Leeds and Watford still in it, but if we do our job and win these games then those teams are too far behind us. They would have to win five games from the last six and that’s not going to happen.”

It has been a far from profitable month for Boro. They have not won in six and have drawn the last four and been squeezed out of the play-off zone on goal difference.

But Mowbray remains upbeat about the prospects of making the exciting mini shoot-out and the prize it offers.

“We are still in there fighting after what has been a difficult month with all the travelling and the stature of the away games and all credit to the team for the performances they have put in,” he said.

“Obviously it would’ve been nice to have picked up a win

along the way and obviously Bristol was disappointing but we are still in there. We can still be in the play-offs.

“And that means we can still have an exciting end to this season.

“I’ve been involved in the play-offs lots of times as player and manager. It’s a great way to get promoted.

“They are exciting for the supporters, for players. The first part is a two-legged affair with massive games, big crowds, something at stake - in this case a place at Wembley - and they are the games you want to be involved in.

“They are great for the club, you get a big boost, the town rallies around, it is a big day out.

“We have a lot of work to do to get there though. These next two are against teams that have aspirations to get there themselves. They both still have their eye on the prize.”

But Mowbray insisted that while two wins would make his play-off calculations far easier, dropping points would not be a complete disaster.

“On Monday night let’s hope we have picked up some valuable points,” he said.

“But it’s worth saying that even if we don’t we would still have four games left - although the task would be much harder.

“We have to win three of our games, maybe pick up a few points along the way with a draw or two... that will be enough I imagine.

“But let’s win the first one before we get the calculators out. Then the equation becomes much simpler.”